Images sensed and heard, once entered in my blog, now gathered here.
|These are snippets from my blog entries in "L'aura del Campo" from July through December 2005. They includes images, what was sensed, what was overheard and even a quote or two. It is an on-going project and will be updated regularly.
eggy taste of a biscuit; lime cheesecake yoghurt; smell of ripe banana in my backpack; the chatter of writers; 7:47 in blue, our new clock system, the cell phone; the taste of 3 dark cherries; bland potatoes.
syrup; food stuck in my teeth; soft lint from the dryer, white on one side, grey on the other; crinkle of a plastic bag being opened; the squeak, the slam, the thud of doors (each owns a sound, unique, solid or hollow); dried blood; yes-yes-yes, yes-yes and a shake of the head, no; hot pink crepe myrtle; purple bicycle; a man singing to himself, plugged into music; a shadow of a dragonfly, then wings, a cigar in flight; crunch of carrots; blue, red, green, charcoal, my shirts hung on the fence, drying.
Spider floating on a thread of silk; fly landing on a white page; sound of the old campus whistle; island of white petunias and violet impatiens; the dry heat when leaving the a/c; barricades and orange cones; old exposed roots; sound of dry grass; locust thorns; juniper fruit; child with copper hair dressed in orange; yellow fire plug.
Algae clinging to a fountain's rock; a disembodied wand watering flowers; petting a panting dog; haze; a gray and white feather I placed in my pocket; flag clanging against a flag pole; a spider graffito on the sidewalk; Auggie with his 'chopsticks' holding his hair up in a bun; a lack of weeds in the park (the price of pesticides?); jagged edge of a rusting metal heron; the wilt of weeping birch.
Sand cones between the bricks, the ants cleaned house; a rabbit cleaning its fur; twitter of wings of a mourning dove landing and taking off; red brick, Vitrified Brick Co. Cherryvale, KS; one Mexico Standard yellow brick; a bunny sniffing each pece of mulch; 4' tall violet tiger lily; a march of dead matches; ivory snow petals beneath a tree; smooshed plums; 2 children's swings hung from trees, chalk on the walk; an acorn cup, grey scaled, brown tipped; the fragrance of peach tobacco.
fragrant tobacco from a briar pipe; orange spores from a pink fungus on a Bradford pear; crunch of seed pods; man asleep on the ramp of a loading dock; the 6 of clubs playing card with a lady with a fan on it; corn tassles; spider plant (Cleome) in bloom; feathery larch; rush of a waterslide; urns of pink petunia; concrete stiles to park your horse; big red and yellow daylilies; the splat of blood, the rising mound of flesh where the mosquito bit; light green of venus flytrap; black and white photos matted and framed black and white on a dark reddish brown wall; George, blond dreads dangling; the flavor of a raspberry creme saver; the rhythm of a wordless poem in my head; sycamore bark turned orange.
Reflection of sky in a stained glass window; light green pods, thirteen to fifteen leaflets; green tiled roof of St. John the Evangelist; trash of the student ghetto; sound of raindrops on leaves; smell of bleach; blue-purple flowers of coleus; hot metal trash container.
Drops of precipitation on my head; the nudge, the nuzzle, the mew of a black and white tuxedo; walking and talking umbrellas; smell of fresh cut tree; looking up through a canopy of spreading elm branches; my friend Hub, dressed all in black.
Ringing sound of hollow bronze sculpture; brown tipped spears of iris; the water storage tanks, round, squat, light green; a U.S. flag mirrored in the School of Religion's window; ground cover and a lamp, both verdigris; plush of persian carpet, its nubby underside; the odd taste of sweetener; recessed lights in an ecru ceiling; manure.
Dayflower, clear blue and delicate, climbing a leaning tree trunk; inch long bumblebee; music blaring from the roofers atop ECM; shadow from spots on the skylight; the sweat on Ryan's back; the chirp of birds from a telephone.
Fragrance of humidity; a man with red hair, olive-green shirt, red and yellow pants (a parrot?); a couple picnicking on the campus lawn; white mushrooms popping up through wet mulch; flourescent orange sneakers; mottled dark red and soft orange trumpet flowers; a 60s Ford Galaxie; smell of sauerkraut; salty potato chips.
The fragrant ivory peaflower of the Pagoda tree; fruit of a bush magnolia; Ricinus, scarlet pistils, yellow stamen on separate flowers; red crepe myrtle; bread strewn for birds; goldfinch perched on a sunflower; white angel trumpets; milkweed taller than me; smell of mown grass clippings turning into hay; up in a mapletree, red ants and a squirrel squawking at me; green eyes shedding black fur; a vine winding 20' up an electric pole guy wire; a maroon 60s Buick Wildcat; the silence of a playground when it's a 100 degrees.
Fragrance of pale pink amaryllis (fairy lily); chirping of a squirrel peering at me from a redbud tree; brown sycamore leaf falling, scurrying along the pavement, at rest until a car drives by; the flash of a flock of wings scurrying past the bookstore window; blue light entering the cool of the chapel; drumming circle in front of Supersonic Music; deep red-violet vinca surrounded by purple-black sweet potato leaves.
European chafer wiggling on its back; lemon poppyseed muffin; orange, grey and clear blue sunset; glow of a backup light shining on the wall.
Grasshopper and a wasp struggling; city wood chipper devouring branches; spray from a sprinkler; dead leaf clinging to my shirt; seeds tuck to cuffs; scented hot petunias; my reflection among the mannequins in the window; a girl saying 'I want to hold your hand', her father singing back 'I want to hold your hand'.
Cream and brown hibiscus-like okra flowers; okra pods; crushed chocolate peppermint; the feel of peeling sycamore bark; a Saturn drifted with peaflowers; virginia creeper growing in the crotch of a locust tree; a dead yellow butterfly; split bamboo poles; twizzle sticks; Robin hosing me; suds.
Bird poop unter der Linden; brushing fingers through reeds; a bloody cuticle; kicking a stone; thyme; a tree snapped off, broken glass and car parts; Auggie juggling sticks; stocking feet on grass; a slug.
Chill from air conditioning or depression; yawns; dulce de leche; prick of barberry; green acorn; Nevada license plate.
Mourning dove; sound of pills shaking in a bottle like a maraca; piece of plastic rippling in the breeze; blue and white canopy matching my shirt and pants; a huge gap in a tree where a branch broke off, shaped like a niche for a statue of Buddha; license plate from the Serene Mountain Kingdom of Oregon; a pink flamingo balloon; smell of chlorination from a public pool; rose scented geranium; fresh cut stump of a young tree (the one that was snapped).
Yellow pear leaves in the trees, on the ground; my untied shoelaces (I usually ignore them!); haze over the valley, obscuring the bluffs; curled ginkgo leaves; hot crushed juniper; golden yellow pear tomatoes; golden orange wild rose hips; celtic cross on the steeple of the Episcopal church; mango-lime yoghurt; rusted hood of a Ford F-150; ex-cons and wannabes talking shit.
Scrawny cosmos; smell of fairy lilies, their pink pompoms waving on knee high wands; white alliums in the alley; sparrows perching on chicken wire; white whiskered, white booted young black cat meowing to be stroked; lantana orange and purple; spray from a power washer; a red moped with a red carton on back, the rider with a red cap; haze all over the hill.
Smell of pizza restaurant; sunlight through the pattern of green within tuliptree leaves; bird tracks across an ant hill; green lichen topside of a leaning trunk of a red-brown barked redbud tree; freshness of morning after a rain.
Okra pod in the alley; honey nut oat cereal; privet weeping from thirst; pink and orange honeysuckle; snow-in-the-mountain growing between the bricks; Matt with a microphone talking to a Minnie Mouse doll; ailanthus samaras, yellow, turning brown.
Grind of the coffee machine; Harrar with turbinado sugar; flies and more flies and James smacking flies; watching a fly examine my cuticle; stench of hot, unwashed streets.
Red and black hose winding through the green yews like a snake; a youth in red running, me plodding along; grass withering; buttered bread dipped in soup.
Pungent body odor; the pull and snap of a dead day lily stalk, the clack of tossing it on mulch; ginkgo leaves turning yellow; redbud leaves turning ochre; white knotweed; a dead cicada surrounded by ants; crushed pine cones; the antique clock stopped; juggling someone else's camera; kitty cat in a back pack; lavender hosta; white hosta flowers.
Three angel trumpets in bloom; two laptops sitting, facing each other on the lawn; blackhard fruit of the golden rain tree; three foot sprig of oak, one year's growth, at the base of a silver maple tree; eggs sizzling, sticking to the pan; a mist of spider webs, gauze among the spreading juniper boughs; sneakers; two barrel-grills; burr oak acorns on the branch.
Grapevine; taste of english muffins with butter; the wet, caught by a sprinkler at the top of the stairs; maailboxes marked 1, 2, B; clanging metal (flag pole?); virginia creeper and trumpet vine all growing up the white pine; ivy in bud; tigerlily bulblets.
Meeko, Toby's new pup; the slash of rain, the mist; Jeannie drunk, her blouse plastered to her breasts; looking up at young Ryan from Olpe, all 6' 7" of him; cheesy lasagna; the twist of plot at the end of a book; a two year old piping, wanting an umbrella to go out in the rain; the flood down the gutters; a car dragging a tailpipe.
Watson "Lake"; white mushrooms under the pink spirea; tattered blue swallowtail; grey clouds lowering; the sigh of a weak battery; rain dripping through a window.
Musty car; wet toes; thick toenails, tough like rhino horn; a yellow Beetle, with daisy wheels, 7 white petals and a yellow hubcap.
At Henry's café:
"I'll never be able to think of your mom without thinking of diarrhea."
"A colonic conundrum"
"I need a wench not a wrench"
"Funerals bind me up. I need to take my daily dump, the second best feeling in the world"
Green, white and orange banners, the colors of the flag of India; a monarch, orange and black and fluttering past the green and white of hosta; ivy dangling over stone walls; ivy climbing up stone walls; red-violet morning glories; flickers on the ground; bees outside a hole in an upper porch eave; 2 snails intertwined with a brown leaf; canna 7' high, with an orange flame on top.
Squished bottle of lotion; the big prickly balls of ripening chestnuts; inconvenience of loose bowels; moss on the library stone; wedding party at the chapel; frisbees flying; mint ice cream; the bite of wintergreen; white roses; smell of pot.
"Up here on the hill, we are academic elitists with a couple of fatal flaws."
Grey house, porch full of houseplants: nassau palm, corn plant, monstera, mother-in-law-tongue; brown parasols of mushrooms beige speckled, cream columned, gathered gainst the dew; lightgreen clapboard, dark green garrett, slick grey-green porch, brown roof; the green of privet, maple, oak, brown brick; green-after-the-rain grass; straw of grass clippings plastered to the risers of the stairs.
Men in shorts, women in slacks; sandals; chocolate point siamese rubbing legs; Brandon's smile and voice; chili macaroni; tea and cake.
"A two-tone with fluid drive" re a visiting skunk.
Dead brown and black shoelaces; a hummingbird?; screams of sorority pledges; encampment of muslin tents; a drift of snow-on-the-mountain; 3 bright pink morning glories; fragrant pink oriental lilies; hundereds of lisianthus; young man playing violin; emu meat for sale; licorice soap; white-gold-brown = milk-orangejuice-coffee.
"Whoa, two meatballs. I'm gonna fall over dead." Reta.
"It's not a squirt. It's a rainbow colored stream". Shawn.
'blue' rose-of-sharon; weeping willow touching the ground, grazing the pond's surface; closed pink waterlily bud; grass growing from an old stump in the pond; moth fluttering around me; smooth round stalks of rush; immature cardinal half tan, half red, with a pre-pubescent crest; cattails brown and ripe; smell of formaldehyde from a biology lab.
"mental masturbation" in reference to PhD. dissertations in literature.
Golden-rain tree with both fruit and flowers; broken tooth breaking off another piece; broken tree lmbs cleared away; new bushes planted; green light mirrored in a puddle; drums.
"Having a snow bawl" Steve H. re 'Brats' tv program when the kids were crying in a winter snowstorm.
"Whatever, Diane" Celeste's retort to "There's not enough estrogen in the house"
"Normies" re people with white picket fences and well scrubbed kids.
Nothing! I was too involved with other things I guess to take the time to look around and notice. Odd, because that was the theme of the exercise in Koepp's poetry class.
"They strain it through buffalo dung." Albert Tharp re decaf.
"Stuck like Chuck, stuck in the rain." Albert Crane (Pooley)
"Get off my horn dogs." Shawn Campbell re having his ear lobes caressed.
Orange buttons of mushrooms on the mulch; big brown frilly mushrooms; wabbit; palm heart and artichoke salad; salmon.
Wet spent pine needles; mini-brackets of brown fungus white edged, frilled with green and grey lichen on broken limbs after the storm; magnolia in bloom; ant eggs in my car.
"Then go stick your head in the river" Joel's reply to "But I wanted salmon."
"He called somebody a whizz-shit." Di re Steve
"You're my salt", Jonathan. "You're my pepper", Shawn.
Bachelor buttons; 10 foot sunflower; peach sunset of wispy clouds filling the sky.
"I'm not Nazi either. I married into that!" Teri Guntert.
"It's like Jonathan taking his shoes off." Robin re limburger chesse.
"The world revolves around semen and semen cops, because everything is sticky to a degree." Steve Elder.
"Joy comes from within and overflows. You can't contain it." Teri Guntert.
Out-of-breath, after climbing the 100 steps at Ohio and Tenth; swirling shadows of swallows; lilacs in bloom (out of season); cicada buzzing around the library's lights and resting upside-down on the ceiling; magenta and blue lobelia; a young boy in blue plastic shoes, his younger brother in yellow.
"No, it's a mystery. They'll make a movie out of it some day," Rick Holleran, in response to the question "Have you solved the assassination yet?" Rick was reading "All the President's Men".
Licked by a puppy; beetles; sweet and sour chicken.
"Toss, turn, irritate, aggravate" Robin Larsen re trying to sleep with a bad knee. (It has good alliteration and rhythm)
Orange cosmos; seedling growing from a seed in a cut apple core; last seeds of weeds, lifting their umbrellas, waiting release by the breeze; two squirrels falling out of a tree, scampering up separate trunks; burr oak acorns; large walnut globes; 3' tall coleus; lavender flowers of the obedient plant; red and gold asclepsias; a fragrant yellow rose; white johnny-jump-ups; blue-purple bellflowers; skitters making a meal outta me; the heavy smell of perfume; the light smell of diesel; three girls in going-out dresses; the early darkening of the day.
Aaron Broussard, Jefferson Parish president: "Take whatever idiot they have at the top of whatever agency and give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don't give me the same idiot." re federal government's response
LIFE-IS-A STORY-TOLD BY-AN-IDIOT-WITH NOTHING-TO-DO
my response: Graffiti is scribbled ...
"They're on the same page," Kristen re blond white girls from suburban counties
"I could put arsenic in your tea, but you'd haunt me Thursdays at three." to Ryan.
"The parting of the waves. He's the trough." Hub re Robin passing between us.
Spider lurking behind its silky web, deep in the vermillion tube trumpeting the morning from its vine; tomato and corn chowder; a glowing hackysack.
"Low grade workout in the sauna" Richard Hagerman re working in a kitchen
"Soft-touch talker - talk the fuzz off a peach" re Steve.
Scarlet rose hips; the tug of dead daylily stems; herringbone of an old brick intersection; the dread of opening an unexpected email.
"La guerre est finis!" Steve Hawkins in response to "What time is it?
Sunflower over 12' tall, maybe 15'; a wind chime inside an office; m&ms; pictures of whales.
Joel: "You look like a lumberjack" Me: "I feel like a log"
"Ah, there goes Kafka" Richard Hagerman re Hub squishing a bug.
Hub: "Brendan the 'Yorkie'"
Crush of spent spirea buds; bugs, flies, ants, no feeling of autumn yet; bell concert.
"I'm lesbian and I don't do that!" Amber re discussion on eating used tampons.
Red violet and blue violet morning glories; pink crepe myrtle; fragrant tobacco in bloom, pungent thyme; grasshoppers; orange day lily in bloom (out of season).
"Is the oolong long gone?" Richard League, T @ 3.
"Figment of our imagination walking away," Hub re Diane.
moist dark chocolate pudding cake; stuffing, turkey with gravy; mist; a sense of autumn-to-come; the weight of my new olive-green bag (a gift from Robin).
SENSED THIS MORNING:
Yellow pear tomatoes, the smell of their leaves; jasmine blooming in a pot; honeybees in the coleus; plugs of dirt left over from the dethatcher.
"I'm not touching them without ice tongs. They might be radioactive." Joel re a pile of soiled clothes.
"Karma is like a catalytic converter. It purifies the noise I hear every day," Steve Elder.
"Cadillac converter," Jonathan Chacón.
Orange wisps above the bell tower at sunset; empty fish pond; a blue light over the emergency phone; pizza; warm and humid end-of-summer eve.
"No one becomes fluent in Arabic. I know how to bluff." Stephanie Saldaña, Fullbright Islamic Civilization Fellow in Damascus, Syria. She gave a brilliant presentation at ECM's University Forum.
Flies on the flytrap; a gnat on my journal; a green silver Mazda like I used to have; acorn falling at my feet; pickles.
Entry of Autumn: 16 Izzat (September 23)
"I don't love you. I love your fry bread!" Dreama misquoting Owen.
Trash hugging the walks going up and down the hill; being licked by beautiful brown Allie (who behaves better than my niece of the same name); eggplant parmesan, cheesy, spongy; nuts hitting the sidewalk (butternuts? I hope!).
Light scent of burning wood; scent of spider plant (Cleome); Altoids wintergreen mints; a 2 year old running off the wrong way; red ants using a mortar joint in a wall as a 2 lane by-way; bank temp and time: 71 at 7:12; purple, lavender, white, pale green variegated leaves of sweet potato; sweet alysum; flashing aqua light of a street lamp coming on at dusk; 8 pigeons roosting in a broken window at the rear of Brits.
This is a totally awesome haiku by local poet David Williamson:
the soul flies between
rackets of darkness and light
where love means nothing
© David Williamson
To fully 'get it', remember how tennis is scored: 15:love, 30:love etc.
"In Russian culture the written word is almost sacred. In America we are a bunch of writers with people who don't read." David (Guitar Dave) Williamson
Puddle at the base of steps with portulaca growing; blackened grout in a shower; a ladybug inside the windowpane; 2 monarchs doing a dance; large spider; stretched out slug.
Yellow buds of chrysanthemum about to open; puddle in the root of an old walnut tree; rust colored mushroom, yellow underneath; squirrels bounding over each other under the lengthening shadows of the oaks; t-shirt "Peace, Love & Crabs" Joe's Crab Shack; beer bottle decking the yew in blue; a tinge of autumn in the turning-golden boughs; smell of laundry; brown grasshopper on a beige stucco wall; loose bricks in the crosswalk; pink flowered obedient plant.
"If something bad happens, hit the button." Hubbard Collinsworth re the present 'Replay Generation' and its disconnect from reality.
Blue plastic bag; purple plastic cup; white honeysuckle vine in bloom; new leaves on the ivy; clock stopped at 6:04.
A feather, bottle cap and a bolt together on a step; the dew frosting the spider webs across the juniper, funnel in the middle looking like the eye of a hurricane, gaze travels towards the depths.
Black net catching leaves over a fountain; Black, red and white balloons hanging from a tree; cherry cheesecake; BLT.
'Time and patience turn the mulberry leaf to silk."
--- a Serbian Proverb
Purple pod okra; yellow squash flower; 9 petal oriental lily; honeycomb; pale purple eggplant; pickled asparagus; yellow and red strung peppers; purple pod beans; 7 pound sweet potato; purple cabbage; a pink shirt walking by.
The tune "The river runs wide, I can't cross over"; bells in the distance; chocolate milk; bustle of dusk downtown Sunday night.
"They're making me sell those damn Winnie-the-Pooh books," Brendan Lemley, who is all of 5'1".
The chartreuse of sweet potato; the maroon and green of coleus; the scrub-brush of pine needles; grey and yellow lichen on the pear; smell of cedar chips; worrying a squirrel up a tree; smell of spicy pizza sauce; the growl of stomach; a barefoot blond banging on the drums.
"We see each other at this hour" LaFern, very understated.
"I took enough medicine to kill a horse" JR. probably not understated.
Burning bush tinged with red; cricket hopping across the walk; yellow-gold aphids; white butterfly; gardener with a bandaged broken toe; dappled shadow dancing with the breeze; the quaking crabapples in bloom this autumn.
"Does anyone need an apartment?" Iron Eyes holding up a large cardboard box.
"Seasonal Affective Doldrums" Brendan re s.a.d. noting the shortening days.
Forsythia in bloom under the red berries of the honeysuckle bush; red yew berries; rose red fruit of magnolia; leathery leaves and the fragrance of sweet viburnum.
2005-10-07 No images recorded.
2005-10-08 No blog entry
"Dreama's riding it" Sandy re noise from the washing machine.
Billy-the-dog barking at me and taking a nip; Glen with a paste-on mustache, dressed in snug red shorts, changing to a suit later; red balloons; a balloon bursting; a burlap penis suspended from the ceiling, lit from beneath; 2 cardboard windmills; the crunch of paper stuck in the copy machine; hummus; lime coke; singing 'Domini fili unigenite'; toothpaste.
Smoke bush blooming downtown; brown spots on the sweet potato leaves; the blazing torches of scarlet cannas in bloom.
faint fragrance of heliotrope; pus; cheese corn muffins.
Big mound of yellow chrysanthemums; fragrance of crushed juniper; a leashed mop w
ith four legs.
Honeysuckle in bloom; mosquito by my ear; squirrel wagging its tail squawking threats; red-bronze virginia creeper; white clover; dandelions; mumble of a lunch crowd; deep red robes.
Vanilla; honey mustard; a friends change from red shirt, white shirt, blue shirt; cymbals; a banjo-mandolin; osage oranges; two pear trees with a flock of songbirds roosting, the chitter, the flitter, the poop; curled ricinus leaves; green tomatoes; world seen through the yellow glass of a cup.
"Rock monsters" re crack addicts, which I misheard as "Rock mousers". I think what I misheard is more poetic!
Cabbage moths; pungent rue; yellow butterflies; pizza, yuck; icecream, yeah.
Torta de queso; el acento de España; tres mujeres de Galicia; too much coffee; potatoes with lots of butter.
"Too bad we can't catch those little critters and train them for the circus," Hedrick Allen re Lamosil commercial.
Tinkle of bell clappers being adjusted; orange leaves flaming the trees on the hill.
Smell of chrysanthemum; golden weeping birch; the harvest moon birthing gold, cloaked behind the wisps of clouds, rising above the towers, beaming silver; hummingbird moth; monarch butterfly.
"Slash pit" re the arches of the Episcopal Church where Avery got his throat cut (He survived with 12 stiches).
"I can touch the rim", Eric Hyde re being able to jump.
Spider web hanging by the blue emergency light; 3rd night of the full moon waning; rabbit hurdling into the honeysuckle; Mars (?) below the moon in the eastern sky.
"Blue babe stacker" Steve Hawkins making a pun on the Green Bay Packers as he was cleaning a pile of blue mats.
Mars below the moon in the eastern sky; guacamole and bean sprout sub.
Fountain splashing, floating leaflets; cold iron not warmed by the autumn sun; a black beetle scurrying; a grey cat that wouldn't come to me.
"She is homed." Hub in reference to someone who has never been without a place to live.
One lone orange portulaca.
I poop here
Every Tuesday and Thursday
afternoon, what is it about
libraries that make me poop?
Yellow of jaundice, of the Grenada's doors, of the Buffalo Wild Wings sign, of the Yield to Pedestrians warning; turkey chowder with cheese-onion corn-muffins; the colors of glass.
The loud television; the Twins' loud music; the loud conversation; Joel yelling; my nerves jangling.
yellow pansies; frosty leaves; hot chocolate; winter-blue sky.
"If you had good arms you could row across." Heard at a coffee shop. I immediately thought of Kate Chopin's 'The Awakening' and Tarjei Vesaas' 'Fugl' (Bird).
"Ah, moo juice, lactate of the Gods." Guitar Dave at lunch.
Like a still life: a cup of water with a sunflower, a pencil, a scrubber, Ajax cleaner, bleach spray bottle, three sponges (two blue, one violet), a pink coffee stained notice now illegible, Re-juv-nal.
"He's not a figment of your imagination; he's a fragment of your agitation." Brad Parker re Bryan K.
"I wish to dance with the elephants in the library because the day is mysterious." Brad Cook, translating himself from his original performance in Spanish, "Quiero bailar con los elefantes en la biblioteca porque el día está muy misterioso."